An accident investigator said he had never known such ‘careless maintenance’ as he gave evidence about the state of a lorry that caused a horror crash on the M5.

David Price presented his evidence at the inquest into the deaths of five people in the accident in 2017.

A couple from Bristol, Dr Rebecca Mitchell, 42, and Adrian Beaumont, 46, were killed, alongside three members of a family from Liverpool - Richard Henry Evans, 66, his wife Elaine, 62, and her elderly mother Audrey Hodge, 84.

Read More

Rebecca and Adrian's children, aged 12 and ten at the time, were also left fighting for their lives after the incident.

Emergency services were called to Junction 14 of the M5 at Falfield/Thornbury on Saturday September 16 2017 after a converted horsebox travelling on the southbound carriageway ploughed through the central reservation.

Read More

The lorry driver, Michael Bakewell, lost control of his vehicle because of a blown-out tyre. It collided with two cars travelling on the northbound carriageway, killing five.

Mr Price, owner of Saltford-based Forensic Accident Investigation Services, had been tasked by Avon and Somerset Constabulary with investigating the lorry’s two front tyres, a process via which he discovered that the tyres were - in his view - 'extremely old', and had been undergoing the degenerative process of de-lamination for a number of years.

Adrian Beaumont (Image: Bristol Live)

He also found stress cracking in the tyres, and evidence that the rear tyres had been under-inflated at the time of the crash.

Despite Mr Price's statements that a walk-around inspection of the vehicle was unlikely to yield any significant warning signs of stress on the tyres, he criticised Mr Bakewell's comments about checking the air pressure in his tyres approximately once a year.

He said: "There was evidence of wear and tear, such stress cracking, but I would expect that to be noticed during a detailed check rather than a daily check, but as we have heard not even the tyre pressure was checked.

Read More

"A weekly check, perhaps at most every two to three weeks would be necessary. I was absolutely astonished by what he said. I have never heard of anyone being so careless about maintenance."

Mr Bakewell was driving from Worcester to Tiverton southbound on the M5 near Thornbury when he heard a loud bang emitting from his vehicle.

He lost control of the lorry and was flung from his seat as the vehicle veered sharply to the right, where it crashed into the central reservation and collided with two cars travelling on the northbound carriageway.

Rebecca Mitchell (Image: Bristol Live)

It was confirmed by a forensic expert that the crash was caused by a blown-out tyre, which may have been fitted in 1999.

Describing the incident, Mr Bakewell said: "The first moment I realised anything was wrong was after hearing a massive bang. The vehicle veered dramatically to the right and threw me out of the seat, and we hit the central reservation.

After that I can’t tell you what happened until it came to a stop.

“There was just a huge pull against the steering wheel to the right. I can’t tell you what happened, but I am not a small guy and I think I would instinctively have tried to fight it at first, but after I was thrown I couldn't do anything.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

“As far as I am concerned, if we had been wearing seat belts there would have been two more names being read out on that list yesterday. The only reason my wife and I are here is because there were no seatbelts.

"Have you seen the pictures? Our legs would have been completely crushed. If I had been wearing a seatbelt I would have lost my legs, I wouldn't have been able to control the vehicle."

Dozens of emergency vehicles on the M5 after the fatal lorry crash

The court heard how Mr Bakewell, who is a professional driver with more than 20 years’ experience and runs a transport company with his parents, was unaware of any issues with his tyres until he heard a loud bang immediately before the tragic incident.

It was revealed to the family that an advisory notice had been placed on the condition of one of the vehicle’s tyres at its last MOT inspection in March 2017, during which the inspector added an advisory notice about the condition of one of the vehicle’s tyres.

Read More

Despite owning the vehicle, it was also the first time that Mr Bakewell had been delivered this news. His father, he said, had taken the lorry to its MOT inspection, and had not mentioned it to him, nor did he apparently recall ever knowing about the advisory notice.

Mr Price surmised it was the sheer age of the parts that led to the burst tyre. There was a small possibility, he said, that the under-inflated tyres could have contributed to the extreme manner in which the lorry swerved out of control, but the impact of the burst tyre would have made it almost impossible to handle the vehicle under any circumstances.

In his witness statement, Mr Price referenced an advisory change which was brought in in November 2018 stating that tyres should not be older than 10 years old on all commercial vehicles.

He said: “At this stage, this is still advisory. But I would be happy to see ten years brought in as legislation, rather than just advice.”

Gary Ford, vehicle examiner for the DVSA, inspected the horsebox both at the scene and several weeks later, after it had been recovered.

The vehicle was described as ‘excessively damaged’, with snapped steering and a broken chassis. The horsebox had to be moved with a police escort, as it was so bent it covered two lanes when it was transported on a recovery vehicle.

Download the Gloucestershire Live app

Gloucestershire Live now has an app.

You can get all the latest news, sport and lifestyle that matters to you in an easy-to-use, clear format.

You can also choose to receive notifications when the biggest stories break so you're always keeping pace with what's happening locally.

You can download the app now, just search for Gloucestershire Live in your app store.

He confirmed that if a driver had done a walk around of the vehicle - as would have been expected - before setting out, they would likely not have noticed significant wear or damage to the tyre, however these had become more noticeable in their deflated state.

At the scene of the crash he collected samples of the tyre that had exploded, and found that internally they had been corroded and holed in places, and shown signs of micro-cracking.